Phelan, Craig

William Green; biography of a labor leader

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State University of New York Press, Albany. 1989, x, 223p. SUNY series in labor history. "William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor from 1924 to 1952, was a controversial figure whom historians invariably depict as bumbling, incompetent, vain, and ignorant; the cheerful servant of selfish and reactionary craft unionists, and the person most directly responsible for the split in organized labor in 1935. This biography provides a social and political context for Green's actions in an attempt to vindicate one of the last heirs of a religiously inspired trade unionism that sought cooperation between labor and capital on the basis of biblical precepts." - rear cover